KILLER: An Unfit Hero Novel

by Faiman, Hayley

  Louis walks over to me, holding out his palm. I slip my hand inside and he tugs me to my feet. Gathering me in his arms, his green eyes look down at me, searching my face.

  “You’re my family, Tulip,” he announces. “I love you so much.”

  I’m not only rendered speechless, but I become immobile when his lips crash against mine. I love him too, more than he could ever know. These people surrounding us are my family and he’s given me that. He’s given me pure love and a family, I don’t think that I could ever be happier.

  Not ever.

  Epilogue

  TWO MONTHS LATER

  TULIP

  Something touches my shoulder.

  Lips.

  Then wetness replaces the soft touch.

  Tongue.

  My eyes flutter open and I shift and roll over onto my back. Louis is lying on his side, the sheets pulled up to his waist, his hand cradling his head as he watches me. He lifts his hand and uses his index finger to trace a line from the center of my throat all the way down to my belly button.

  “Louie?” I breathe.

  He smirks but doesn’t lift his eyes to me. “Can’t believe Exeter and Channing had their babies. Laurie then Hutton are next,” he murmurs.

  “What got you thinking about that?” I ask.

  Louis flattens his palm against my lower stomach, his eyes focused on me there. My breath hitches in anticipation of what he’s going to say. When he lifts his gaze to meet mine, his lips twitch.

  “Want that for us, Tullie. I want a baby with you. I want to start my family with you.”

  “Louis?”

  It’s the only thing that I can say. The rest of my words have been completely stolen. My eyes search his, but he’s giving nothing away.

  “Planned on doing some big thing, but I don’t want to wait, not another fucking minute.”

  Then, he lifts his hand from my stomach, shifts behind him and grabs something before he holds it out to me. “Marry me, Tullie.”

  Tears immediately fill my eyes. They don’t spill over immediately, I try really hard to hold them back, but as soon as he takes my hand and slides the ring on my finger, they fall. They pour down my cheeks as I try to blink them away to look at the ring on my finger.

  A platinum pear cut diamond. I don’t know the carat weight, but it has to be a lot because I can practically see my reflection. Lifting my hand to his lips, I watch as he kisses the ring before letting me go.

  “Yes,” I breathe.

  “I wasn’t really asking,” he chuckles.

  My eyes widen and I lift my gaze to his. “You weren’t?”

  Louis shakes his head once. “We’re getting married, baby. You pick the day and I’m there. Then on our wedding night, I’m putting my baby inside of you. Waited so fucking long to have a beautiful life and I don’t want to wait another minute.”

  My breath comes out in a whoosh.

  “Louis,” I rasp through trembling lips.

  He smiles, his eyes twinkling as he watches me. “Baby,” he grunts.

  “How did I end up with a man as wonderful as you, a man who shows me unparalleled beauty in this ugly world? What did I do to deserve you?” I ask.

  His smile widens and he leans forward, touching his lips to mine. “I ask myself that every fuckin’ day, Tullie.”

  We don’t speak, not words anyway. Instead, we talk with our bodies. My fiancé makes love to me and it’s as spectacular this time as it is every other time we’re together.

  This is where I have always belonged.

  My entire past, Joey and my parents, the cruelty of this world, they brought me here so that I could appreciate all of the beauty that Louis gives me.

  LOUIS

  We walk into the courthouse, hand-in-hand. Our friends are already seated in the back, no scratch that, our family is seated in the back. I jerk my chin toward them. The women dip theirs in nods, and the men meet my chin jerk with one of their own.

  Tulip and I make our way to the front row and I guide her in. We’re here for Charlie, as her support system. Charlie turns around, her eyes already filled with watery tears.

  “You’re here,” she whispers.

  Tulip nods her head before she reaches out and wraps her fingers around Charlie’s shoulder, giving her a squeeze.

  “We’re here,” I grunt.

  “Thank you,” she breathes right before we’re asked to stand for the judge.

  The trial, fortunately, doesn’t take long. If this fuck hadn’t used the insanity defense, this whole circus would never have happened. Now, we’re sitting here, supporting Charlie, who is on the edge of insanity herself while she has to relive the nightmare that is Mark.

  Charlie is the lucky one though. Like with Silas, she wasn’t the only victim, she’s just the only living victim. Their family resemblance, especially in weird kinks, is more than I could have ever imagined. They’re both sick perverts.

  Mark’s mother was taken to the hospital, but she was too old and had been drugged for too long to survive the detox process, her heart just couldn’t take it.

  This is the last day, the verdict is in and we’re all here for Charlie. A family that she didn’t know she had, at her back.

  The judge asks all of us to rise and then gets straight into it. He talks about the reprehensible things that Mark has done in his life. He agrees that Mark is indeed sick, that there is something inherently wrong with the entire Perry clan, and I think that this is it, that he’s going to get off.

  “However sick Mark LaFleur is, he is not insane. Mr. LaFleur is a murderer, an abuser, and a very disturbed individual. I am sentencing him to life in prison without the possibility of parole.”

  Mark screams, but the judge ignores him, stands and leaves his bench. Charlie turns to Tulip, her eyes watering before tears stream down her cheeks. I watch as Tulip stands to her feet, then the two women embrace.

  “You ready, Charlie?” I ask.

  She lifts her gaze to me and nods. My apartment in Vegas has been on the market but hasn’t sold yet. I just took it off and am going to let Charlie move there and start over. She needs to move out of Gallup and away from all of the memories here that plague her.

  Together, the three of us make our way outside. I spot her brother, the sheriff’s deputy, Hernandez, waiting at the sidewalk of the courthouse. He’s going to take her to the airport, see her off.

  Charlie turns to me, her eyes still shimmering with tears. Tulip is talking to the other women, so I know that she can’t hear us. Charlie wraps her arms around my shoulders and pulls me in for a hug.

  “Thank you, Louis. Thank you for everything, but most of all, thank you for protecting Tulip and loving her the way that you do. Any other man, I didn’t I’d ever be able to say this, but thank you for being a man that she deserves.”

  Charlie releases me and before I can respond to her words, she swiftly walks toward her brother. I watch as she slips into the front seat of his patrol car.

  Tulip slides her arm around my waist and I look down at her, but she’s focused on the sheriff’s car that’s pulling away from the curb.

  “What did she say to you?” she asks, still not looking up at me.

  I squeeze her a little tighter. “Nothing, it was only between us.”

  Tulip finally looks up at me and I give her a small smile. “Thank you for setting everything up for her. You didn’t have to do that, I appreciate it so much,” she breathes.

  “She needed someone to show her kindness. She has you and her brother to show her love, but she needed a different kind of kindness and I’m happy that I could provide that for her,” I murmur.

  Tulip’s eyes water immediately and she isn’t able to dash the tears away before they fall down her cheeks. “I don’t deserve you,” she hiccups.

  Shaking my head, I touch my lips to her forehead. “Yeah, Tullie you do. I deserve you too, baby. Waited my whole life to have you, and I’m never letting you go.”

  PROTECTOR

/>   An Unfit Hero Short Story

  Prologue

  LAURIE

  Jesse’s lips crash against mine. He picks me up, slamming my back against the hotel room door, right before he thrusts inside of me. My head falls back against the door and a mewl escapes my throat. I’ve never heard myself make a sound quite like that before.

  “Look at me,” he growls.

  Grabbing ahold of his shoulders, I look directly into his eyes. His jaw is clenched, his focus on me and nowhere else. He smirks because he knows how good he feels buried inside of me. He’s the biggest I’ve ever had, and the way he swivels his hips, he knows exactly what he’s doing.

  The cocky fuck.

  “Harder,” I groan.

  He shakes his head once. “Sorry, babe. Enjoying myself right here.” He grins.

  “Pussy,” I snap.

  He chuckles. “Deep inside yours, babe.”

  He grinds his pelvis against my clit and I gasp at the feeling. He leans forward, his lips a hairsbreadth away from mine. I can feel his breath wash over my mouth and I want him to kiss me, I need him to kiss me. He grins, knowing exactly what he’s doing to me.

  “You gonna come on my dick, babe?” he whispers.

  “Only if you make me.”

  “Fuck, Laurie,” he barks.

  His hands are on my ass, he squeezes before he turns us around, his cock still buried deep inside of me, and he walks us toward the bed. He lowers me down on my back, while he stays standing.

  Jesse shifts one hand to my waist, the other he wraps around the side of my neck and squeezes gently. His eyes never once leave mine. I swear my pussy spasms. Never have I had a man look into my eyes as much as Jesse does.

  “Fuck me, Jesse.”

  Something shifts in the way he looks at me. A growl crawls up his throat and he snarls as his fingertips sink deeper into my flesh. Then, without notice, without warning, he does exactly as I demanded.

  He fucks me.

  Hard.

  He owns me.

  This man who only knows my first name consumed me in an instant.

  It’s downright fucking terrifying.

  JESSE

  Amazing.

  Maybe it’s because I’m fucking her sober? Maybe it’s because she’s not some groupie? Maybe they do things differently in Small Town, USA, but fuck me, Laurie is a goddamn firecracker and the best lay I’ve ever had.

  Burying my cock deep inside of her, I shove my face in her neck and I groan as I come. Hard. The hardest I’ve ever come in my fucking life. Well, maybe not as hard as the first time I nutted. That was pretty fucking hard, I saw goddamn stars.

  She wraps her legs around me and for a moment I feel weird. I feel at peace. “Jesse,” she whispers.

  I don’t want to lift my head from her neck. I don’t want this feeling to end and I know it’s fucked because I don’t even know this chick other than she’s friends with Beau’s new bitch.

  Slowly, I lift my head from her neck and look into those eyes of hers. Deep fucking brown, so goddamn deep that they suck me in and hold me fucking immobile.

  “Yeah?” I grunt when she doesn’t say anything.

  “Wanna take a shower, start all over again?”

  My lips curve up into a grin. “Fuck yeah, babe.”

  That’s how we spend the rest of the evening. Sucking, fucking, licking, and more fucking. She drains my dick like no other woman ever has and even when there’s not even an ounce of cum left in my body, I want to do her all over again.

  Never in my life have I felt this way.

  I’m in goddamn trouble.

  Chapter One

  JESSE

  I throw my hands up in the air as I watch her cross her arms beneath her luscious tits. Laurie Howard is a goddamn bitch. A sexy as shit bitch. The best bitch I’ve ever laid, but a bitch. I’ve been trying to get her to at least try, not for me, not for her, but for that baby she’s carrying. She fucking refuses.

  “What do you want?” I ask.

  She shrugs, her eyes shifting from me to the ground. We’re standing in the middle of her salon in goddamn Burnet, Texas. This shit is not for me. But I’ve been here for two months trying to get this bitch to fucking reason with me.

  I’m done.

  “Fine,” I snap. “You want to do this on your own? Have the fuck at it.”

  Turning away from her, I stomp toward the door. Wrenching it open, I look over my shoulder when she calls out my name. My eyes clash with those dark ones that I want more than words can describe.

  “Where are you going?” she whispers.

  Narrowing my gaze on her, I shake my head once. She’s not only a bitch, she’s a goddamn crazy bitch. “I’m going back to California. I’ll have my lawyer draw up paperwork with child support and a visitation schedule.”

  “Jesse.”

  “Remember when you’re doing all this shit, that you chose to do it alone.”

  I don’t say anything else. I also don’t wait for her response. I leave. I head back to the Airbnb that I’ve been camped out at, pack my shit and get the fuck out of dodge. I’m not going to stay around here a minute longer than I fucking have to.

  Once I’m packed and all my shit is in the rental car, I sit in the driveway of the house that I’ve been renting and shoot Beaumont a text.

  SHE DOESN’T WANT TO TRY. I’M DONE. HEADING HOME. SEE YOU WHEN YOU GET TO TOWN NEXT TIME.

  Pinching my eyes closed, I wonder how the fuck this became my life. Six months ago, I was getting high, fucking groupies and having a great fucking time. Then Beaumont and his sober ass settles down with Hutton, one of the best women I’ve ever met.

  Naturally, she has a best friend who is just as wonderful as her, but in her own way and she’s so fucking perfect for me, just the thought of not seeing her again, not being inside of her again makes my cock want to shrivel up.

  BEAU: YOU TRIED. FUCK. I’M SORRY.

  ME TOO.

  Throwing my phone to the passenger seat, I back the car out and I leave. I don’t plan on coming back until my baby is born. This whole fucking place is nothing but a bad goddamn memory.

  LAURIE

  I think I just fucked up. Bad. Placing my palm on my belly, I stare at the door, the same door that Jesse walked out of a couple of hours ago. Biting the corner of my lip, I pinch my eyes closed and try to keep the tears at bay.

  Why can’t I just open up to him? Why can’t I just try?

  Wrinkling my nose, I open my eyes and sigh. I already know the answer. I’ve known the answer. If I opened myself up, if I fall in love with him, then he can hurt me. I am not about to get hurt. No way in hell. That man, he’s nothing but a big ol’ package of hurt wrapped in a fine ass body.

  Nope. Nope. Nope.

  Cleaning up the salon, I close down for the day and start to head toward my car. The sight of Beaumont leaning against my driver’s door causes my step to falter. Jesse called him, he must have. Dammit.

  “Need to talk to you, Laurie,” Beaumont calls out.

  Shaking my head, I square my shoulders and make my way toward him. I’m expecting a lecture of some kind. Maybe he’s going to tell me how I’m fucking up, royally, he doesn’t need to, I already know that much.

  “I’m not going to get in the middle of you and Jesse, but I wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

  Nodding slowly, I lift my gaze up to meet his. “I think I am,” I whisper.

  Beaumont reaches out and wraps his fingers around my bicep before he squeezes gently. “He left town, but I’m guessin’ you figured out that was bound to happen. Just know, no matter what, me and Hutton, we’re here for you and that baby.”

  Dipping my chin down, I kick an invisible rock with a muttered thank you. Beaumont’s fingers squeeze my bicep and I lift my eyes to look up into his gaze.

  “Just to say, if you tried with Jesse, he’s really a good guy.”

  “He’s in a rock band…”

  Beaumont grins. “Yeah, and I’m the lead singer.�
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  Rolling my eyes, I shake my head. “You know that’s different. You’ve been hot for Hutton since you were young and dumb. My situation is totally different.”

  Beaumont’s hand falls from my shoulder and I watch him shrug. “Maybe. Just sayin’ Jesse is maybe worth a chance, especially since you’re carrying his kid. It is his right?”

  Narrowing my gaze on him, he holds his hands up in a surrender pose. “Hey, heard a rumor you and Ford hooked up’s all.”

  Gulping, I sink my teeth into my bottom lip. “It’s Jesse’s,” I whisper. “Considering he didn’t use a condom, like at all. Don’t ask me why I didn’t demand it. I was way too caught up in everything. But, yeah. Ford did use one, because deep down Ford is a good man who takes care of women, even if he’s a bit rough in bed.”

  Beaumont’s eyes widen, obviously not having heard all the details about me and Jesse or me and Ford.

  “I didn’t need that much info.”

  My lips curve up into a grin. “But you got it anyway. Don’t ask and I won’t tell.”

  “You’ll be okay,” Beau mutters as if talking to himself.

  “Of course I will.”

  Beau helps me into my car and I give him a bright smile and a wave as I start my engine and leave the downtown square. What I don’t do is drive straight home. Instead, I drive toward Jesse’s rental. Just like Beau said, it’s vacant. I can tell just from sitting in the driveway. I can feel that he’s left.

  Tears immediately fill my eyes. I stay there until the sun sets and like a pussy assed bitch, I cry.